Vague, dangerous pacifism

By Cheshire ( articles - email ) | May 29, 2003

The distinguished Thomist philosopher at Notre Dame University, Professor Ralph McInerny, uses his monthly column in Crisis magazine (June 2003) politely to express his frustration at the current "odd pacifism emanating from many sources in the Vatican." He quotes George Weigel as seeing the same false abolitionist assumption spreading about war as about the death penalty, and cites a new book by Massimo Teodori called Maledetti Americani (Damned Yankees) about anti-Americanism in Italian society and in the Church and "the mindless peace marches" they approve. He warns: "When peace becomes a battle cry watch out." McInerny is worth reading especially when he observes: "Prelates speak of the United Nations as if it were some kind of government that issued licenses to govern. Some in Rome have even shown a weakness for a world court. This drifting toward abstraction is dangerous, as is the fuzzy pacifism that accompanies it."